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Sephora and Ulta Haul

While I'm catching up with everything else, I'll do a post on a haul I did right before my vacay. I went to Sephora and Ulta with the intent of purchasing items that I've been eyeing for a while. I want to make a conscious effort to try other lines of cosmetics besides MAC and Sephoras and Ultas are great one stop shops to try other brands.

Here's a quick vid on my hauly-haul!

First off, here's what I picked up from Sephora. Luckily I had a giftcard so it helped ease some of the pain of shelling out the dough, lol.

Laura Mercier Primer - I got the plain oil free one to start off with. This has been a staple of makeup artists kits for years. I really love the texture...way better than my MAC prep and prime.

Nars multiple in palm beach - my first Nars product! This little wind up stick can be used for the cheeks, eyes and lips. I picked up this bronzey color to give me a sunkissed look on my trip to Costa Rica. It really is the essential travel product.

Nars lipgloss du0 in orgasm and sunset beach-everyone raves about Nars glosses I finally had to pick one up. I started with a duo so I could get more for my money. The oh so popular orgasm is a pinky gold color and sunset beach is more of a coral/orange toned shade. I will say it is not nearly as sticky as MAC lipglass but it lasts just as long.

MUFE no. 92 eyeshadow - I finally picked up this color! It's been sold out at my sephora for a while, and I haven't seen a similar shade of purple out there. It's so vibrant...I pair it with carbon and a regular highlighter color. I've worn it twice out and I always get compliments because the purple is just gorgeous. You can't beat the pigmentation in MUFE eyeshadows...I do find that you need to work a little harder to blend though.

MUFE HD foundation--I've gotten many questions on this foundation since I wore it on my Spiced Chocolate tutorial. Everyone was excited about this foundation...and many makeup artists rave about only having MUFE foundations in their kit. I tried out a few shades and settled on No. 128...for reference I'm about NC42/43 in MAC. I will say, this stuff goes on smooth! It blends a lot easier than my MAC foundation. When I apply it I need a lot less product but still have a lot of coverage. I highly recommend this. The only thing is that the shade I got is a bit too light. I've been mixing some of my Cinema Secrets foundation in it to darken it a bit. Hopefully it will work better in the winter when my skin lightens. I would definitely try to test it out at your local sephora to make sure you get a match. It's a bit pricey around $42 but I will say that this formula is phenomenal.

Next, my Ulta goodies. A lot of the items I picked up are ones I've seen others use on youtube and on the blog circuit.

I finally picked up some Essie nail polishes! I got a mini 4 pack of Summer Colors. I painted each nail a different color and wore it for nearly a week! Yes I did get some strange looks, but I really wanted to test the staying power of the polish. After a few days, and no base coat or top coat, there was really no chipping. Amazing!

I also picked up the Smashbox lip exfoliator. It's very difficult to apply lipstick or lipgloss on chapped, flaking lips. And if you do, you end up wiping it off anyways because it just looks gross. I picked this up for my kit to smooth away the dead skin before applying lip products. The little granules are big enough to exfoliate effectively yet they also dissolve like sugar so that it's not too harsh on the sensitive lip skin.Oscar Blandi dry shampoo spray. I've been eyeing this for a while because I just hate to wash my hair everyday! You basically spray it on your roots and it coats your hair with a white powder similar to baby powder. You're supposed to let it sink in for a minute or two to absorb the oil and then brush it out. It really does work...but you've got to make sure to brush it out thoroughly or you'll like like you have gray hair...even more so if you have dark hair. Weird thing is...I only used it twice before I left for Costa Rica. I tried to use it this morning but it was empty! I questioned my BF to see if he used it...he said he didn't and I believe him because it's a random product...but how did it get empty so quick! A youtube viewer told me that she used the product before but you have to wash out the nozzle with warm water or it will get clogged and not work. I wonder if that's what happened...weird!

Not pictured, but I also purchased the Paul Mitchell UV protect spray. Since I have chemically processed hair (no guys, blond is not my natural color, he he) I'm paranoid about it turning brassy. There aren't too many products out there promoting sunscreen for the hair but I was able to locate this one at Ulta. I used it a few times in Costa Rica, it smelled nice...and I didn't notice a dramatic difference in my hair...so maybe it did work, lol. I'm going to have to test this puppy out a little more.